Gorbachev and Soviet Reforms
In response to “A Step for World Safety, If East Bloc Is Serious,” by Ernest Conine, Op-Ed Page, Oct. 17:
Conine goes into all kinds of reasons that the Russians want to join with the United States to fight international terrorism, something at which they have no peer. However, “In view of the nationalist fervor now sweeping the Soviet Union . . . “ describes the true--and sole--reason for their sudden change of heart towards terrorism.
The Russians will simply tag the term “terrorist” to describe nationalist freedom fighters who want to free their once-independent countries from the Russian stranglehold. Will the U.S. participate in helping the Russians put down a fight for the independence these people have waited and fought for so long? Will everyone who ever wanted to regain self-determination be automatically labeled a “terrorist?”
I am certain that few freedom-striving people would want to spill their own (and other people’s) blood in the quest for independence, but they will if they have to. Nothing comes easy, especially your freedom. Where will the U.S. stand on this issue?
NORMAN MacPHERSON
Palos Verdes
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